(CN) - Donald Trump scored a resounding victory in Indiana's Republican presidential primary on Tuesday, handily defeating Sen. Ted Cruz and driving the Texan from the race for the nomination.
"We gave it everything we've got, but the voters chose another path," Cruz said as he addressed supporters shortly before 9 p.m.
"From the beginning, I've said that I would continue on as long as there was a viable path to victory. Tonight I'm sorry to say it appears that path has been foreclosed," he said.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, the also-ran in Indiana and for much of the primary season, responded to Cruz's announcement by saying he will stay in the race until a candidate has the 1,237 delegates necessary to secure the nomination on the first ballot.
As Cruz left the stage of the Indianapolis ballroom at which he spoke, GOP chairman Reince Priebus took to Twitter saying that Trump "will be presumptive @GOP nominee, we need to unite and focus on defeating @HillaryClinton."
With that, the drama of Tuesday night shifted to the Democratic primary, where the outcome remained very much in doubt for over two hours..
Shortly after Cruz spoke, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont was declared the winner in his contest against Hillary Clinton, garnering 53 percent of the vote to her 47 percent.
That the outcome of the Democratic race would be so uncertain Tuesday night was completely unexpected after Trump and Cruz dominated the political news cycle and the Democrats largely yielded the field to their pyrotechnics.
Cruz had drawn a line in the sand in Indiana, even entering into a deal with Kasich to guarantee he could take Trump on mano a mano. The result, however, was likely far more pugilistic and bizarre than either candidate dared imagine.
Early Tuesday morning, Trump appeared on television and repeated claims first made by the National Enquirer, that the senator's father, Rafael Cruz, had appeared in a 1963 photograph with John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
"His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald's being, you know, shot," Trump said on "Fox & Friends."
Cruz responded angrily, sarcastically saying Trump was right, and adding that his father was also "Elvis, and has Jimmy Hoffa buried in his backyard."
Later, in a calmer moment, Cruz said his father is a "hero."
As for Trump, Cruz dismissed him as "amoral" and a "braggadocious, arrogant buffoon."
With that, Cruz continued to race across the state in search of every possible vote, while Trump retired to Trump Tower in New York to await the primary results.
In Evansville, Indiana, Cruz told a large crowd that he did not believe America is "proud, boastful, self-centered, mean-spirited, hateful, bullying nation."
Appearing with his wife Heidi and running mate Carly Fiorina by his side, Cruz warned that "If Indiana does not act" to stop Trump "this country could well plunge into the abyss."
It may well be when the history of the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination is written, Indiana will be seen as the defining contest. Since last week, when he was trounced by Trump in five Northeastern states, Cruz has focused on Indiana as if it were the nomination itself.
He campaigned in every corner of the state, took the unheard of step of announcing his choice for vice president, and secured the endorsement of the state's governor.
